If Thou But Suffer God To Guide Thee
If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee
If thou but suffer God to guide thee,
And hope in Him through all thy ways,
He’ll give thee strength, whate’er betide thee,
And bear thee through the evil days;
Who trusts in God’s unchanging love
Builds on the Rock that nought can move.
Only be still, and wait His leisure
In cheerful hope, with heart content
To take whate’er thy Father’s pleasure
And all discerning love hath sent;
Nor doubt our inmost wants are known
To Him who chose us for His own.
Sing, pray, and swerve not from His ways,
But do thine own part faithfully;
Trust His rich promises of grace,
So shall they be fulfilled in thee;
God never yet forsook at need
The soul that trusted Him indeed.
Translated by Catherine Winkworth (1827–1878)
THROUGH THE CENTURIES, Christians have waited for the end of persecution. “How long, O Lord?” they pray. We sit and watch the rise of evil around us, and we wonder why God doesn’t pull the plug. Why is He waiting?
Georg Neumark wrote this hymn amid the tremendous upheaval of seventeenth-century Germany. Through Catherine Winkworth’s translation, the words have spoken to many subsequent generations, teaching us that by trusting in God’s “unchanging love,” we will find the only true security for our lives.
Catherine Winkworth began translating German hymns into English as a personal devotional enterprise. After numerous trips to the continent, she eventually found and translated four hundred new hymns. One writer said, “She faithfully transplanted Germany’s best hymns and made them bloom with fresh beauty in their new gardens.”
I will call on God, and the Lord will rescue me. Morning, noon, and night I cry out in my distress, and the Lord hears my voice. . . . Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.
Psalm 55:16-17, 22
From the book
